Animation

[Chamber005]

I'm trying to get a final budget together for about 3 minutes of animation. It's basically of two characters in full costume (masks covering their mouths) on a city rooftop. A little talking. Fight with three thugs and we're done.

Is it just a matter of purchasing all of the models and environments and handing those over to an animator? Since I'll be doing animation in the future with these same characters, purchasing them seems like a pretty good investment.

Anyone had any experience with doing this?

http://www.turbosquid.com/3d

 

[Gord.T]

The enviroments I think you'll be okay with since they are just static objects.
Make sure the resolution of the textures are high enough if your doing close ups.
It depends on how close your camera is going to get to the buildings and what resolution your final output is going to be. Generally anything that can fit well into a 2K screen will be fine. I often just shoot for 1K.

The characters are a bit different.
Along with the texturing issues as above, you also need know what quality the mesh is.
A low polygon count mesh may be fine for video games but unusable for screen plays.
The topology of the mesh also has to be created in a manner that's inducive to animating. A blocky character mesh can't be animated without severe distortion.
You'll need someone to help you in determining the quality of mesh and texture before you buy. Many of the models at Turbo Squid are for video games, so you have to check into it more.

Another thing is the model will need to be rigged. That's a process of adding bones to the model and weighting the mesh to the bones so it animates properly. Basically the bones/joints are animated and the mesh/skin follows the movements. So, your weighting allows you to move an arm and not have the head move as well.

Next is facial animations. These are generally done with morph targets. A target being a single facial expression, such as an eyebrow moving up and down.
You'll need as many targets as you have expressions, often in the hundreds for typical animations. But for yours, maybe just a few would suffice since they have masks covering thier mouths. Still, it's something that has to be considered. And as I say you'll likely not get any with your purchased model from Turbo Squid. Someone will have to create those expressions.


It also depends on what formats the model and textures are available for.
Most come with pictures that are used for the textures, some are application specific.
So it may depend on what application your animator will be working with.
Most models from TS, that's I've come across, come with several versions of project files so you should be safe there. But again, many are of video game quality, not for screen plays.

One more, it also depends if your mesh is triangulated or in quads. Triangulated meshes are no good for film animations. They don't smooth out enough because the 3D program isn't sure how to subdivide a triangle. I can show it on paper, it just does not work. Quad meshes are what you'll need.

And even if the mesh is already rigged, it will depend on the quality of the rig and what the animator needs.

So, if you already have an animator in mind for your project, consult with him before making any purchases.

It's definitatley not as simple as buying a model that looks good from the preview pics on TS and handing it off to an animator. You'll have to at least consider the above mentions else your animator may have to remodel it (it does happen), unrwrap the UV's then re-texture it maybe, rig it, and then, animate it.

Sounds like a lot, but just consult your animator before purchasing anything.

 

[Chamber005]

The enviroments I think you'll be okay with since they are just static objects.
Make sure the resolution of the textures are high enough if your doing close ups.
It depends on how close your camera is going to get to the buildings and what resolution your final output is going to be. Generally anything that can fit well into a 2K screen will be fine. I often just shoot for 1K.

The characters are a bit different.
Along with the texturing issues as above, you also need know what quality the mesh is.
A low polygon count mesh may be fine for video games but unusable for screen plays.
The topology of the mesh also has to be created in a manner that's inducive to animating. A blocky character mesh can't be animated without severe distortion.
You'll need someone to help you in determining the quality of mesh and texture before you buy. Many of the models at Turbo Squid are for video games, so you have to check into it more.

Another thing is the model will need to be rigged. That's a process of adding bones to the model and weighting the mesh to the bones so it animates properly. Basically the bones/joints are animated and the mesh/skin follows the movements. So, your weighting allows you to move an arm and not have the head move as well.

Next is facial animations. These are generally done with morph targets. A target being a single facial expression, such as an eyebrow moving up and down.
You'll need as many targets as you have expressions, often in the hundreds for typical animations. But for yours, maybe just a few would suffice since they have masks covering thier mouths. Still, it's something that has to be considered. And as I say you'll likely not get any with your purchased model from Turbo Squid. Someone will have to create those expressions.


It also depends on what formats the model and textures are available for.
Most come with pictures that are used for the textures, some are application specific.
So it may depend on what application your animator will be working with.
Most models from TS, that's I've come across, come with several versions of project files so you should be safe there. But again, many are of video game quality, not for screen plays.

One more, it also depends if your mesh is triangulated or in quads. Triangulated meshes are no good for film animations. They don't smooth out enough because the 3D program isn't sure how to subdivide a triangle. I can show it on paper, it just does not work. Quad meshes are what you'll need.

And even if the mesh is already rigged, it will depend on the quality of the rig and what the animator needs.

So, if you already have an animator in mind for your project, consult with him before making any purchases.

It's definitatley not as simple as buying a model that looks good from the preview pics on TS and handing it off to an animator. You'll have to at least consider the above mentions else your animator may have to remodel it (it does happen), unrwrap the UV's then re-texture it maybe, rig it, and then, animate it.

Sounds like a lot, but just consult your animator before purchasing anything.

I had a pretty good understanding of meshes and rigging, but your detailed elaboration is helpful.

Pretty much all the stuff for 50-100 bucks is of the video game variety. The 300-600 bucks stuff seems to be what I'd need (based on the .avi files provided). I also noticed some people selling their short film throw aways (e.g. they created the characters for a project and are now selling off the components of that project on the cheap).

While it seems cost effective to have someone create characters (partly) from scratch for me, the creation of vehicles or enviornments seems silly.

Also I'm toying with the idea of doing the animation myself, depending on how the rest of the (live action) production progresses over the next 6 months. I'm well versed in key framing and using a 3D camera in CS4 as well as having read a couple books on 2D animation over the years. With the help of some tutorials I'm sure I could grasp the concept of digital puppetry. Then it's just a matter of putting in the hours (and the hours, and the hours).

I can't imagine characters much better than this for animating:

http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-model-milena-5-sss-2/495678

http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-realistic-male-man-model/504129